ED Seizes Rs 294.19 Crore Assets in Sunstar Overseas Ltd Case

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 294.19 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in the Sunstar Overseas Ltd case. The assets include land, buildings, and fixed deposits; three individuals were arrested in connection with the fraud scheme.

The Gurugram unit of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has seized assets amounting to Rs 294.19 crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in connection with the Sunstar Overseas Ltd case, the agency announced on Wednesday. These assets comprise land, buildings, flats, and fixed deposit receipts (FDRs).

The confiscated assets encompass 72 acres of land and buildings, including agricultural land, valued at Rs 210.6 crore in Sonipat, Amritsar, and Gurugram. Additionally, the assets include two residential houses in Delhi's Civil Lines, spanning over 5000 sq. meters and worth Rs 77 crore, four flats in Karnal worth Rs 1.54 crore, a bank balance of Rs 1.27 crore, and FDRs valued at Rs 3.78 crore. The ED initiated its investigation following an FIR lodged by the Chandigarh branch of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Sunstar Overseas Ltd (SOL) and its former directors, Rohit Aggarwal, Manik Aggarwal, Sumit Aggarwal, and others, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860 for fraud, criminal misappropriation, breach of trust, and cheating, resulting in losses exceeding Rs 950 crore to a consortium of nine lender banks.

The ED's probe revealed that while the total admitted claims against SOL amounted to Rs 1,274.14 crore, the entity was taken over through Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) proceedings for only Rs 196 crore by a resolution applicant, Umaiza Infracon LLP (through Ajay Yadav), which was identified as a shell entity lacking its own funds. During the investigation, the ED stated that it had conducted searches under PMLA, 2002 in January 2024 and arrested three individuals—Rakesh Gulati, Paramjeet, and Ajay Yadav—in July 2024. These individuals were implicated in the conspiracy and the alleged diversion of loan funds to regain actual control and business of the insolvent company from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

(With inputs from agencies.)